19th CENTURY COPROLITE DIGGING IN EVERTON,
BEDS.
Bernard O'Connor 2000
In the second half of the 19th century
hundreds of men, women and children in Everton, Sandy, Potton, Sutton,
Wrestlingworth and Gamlingay were engaged in a new type of extractive industry
- digging "coprolites" - fossils of an assortment of creatures that
lived in the area during Jurassic and Cretaceous times. They were extracted
from pits, in places up to five metres deep, where the seam between the sands
of the Greensand Ridge and the clay beneath.
WHAT
ARE COPROLITES?
Locals
thought they were fossilised dinosaur droppings, but whilst some flat-bottomed
lumps certainly resemble sun-dried turds, the deposit included the teeth, bones
and claws of such dinosaurs as dakosaurus, dinotosaurus, craterosaurus,
megalosaurus, scelidosaurus and iguanodon. There were also remains of marine
reptiles like ichthyosaurus, pliosaurus and plesiosaurus as well as the bird
pterodactyl. There were fossils of shark, whale, crocodile, turtle and a host
of marine organisms. The most common was ammonite - a member of the squid
family. Land animals including elephant, hippopotamus, bear, horse, tapir,
armadillo, hyena and ox were also found in the diggings as well as
unrecognisable lumps of inorganic phosphate.
Mr
Teall, one of the many visiting geologists to the pits, listed the fossils he
had found.
LIST
OF INDIGINOUS FOSSILS FROM THE POTTON PHOSPHATIC BED
Waldheimia
tamarindus Pecten Robinaldinus
Terebratula
Dallasii Trigonia
alaeformis
Terebratula
praelonga Modiola
Terebratula
depressa Modiola aequalis
Rhynchonella
latissima Cyprina Sedgwickii
Rhynchonella
antidichotama Lucina Vectensis
Rhynchonella
sp. Pholadidea
Dallasii
Ostraea
macroptera Pleurotomaria
gigantea
Exogyrae
List of derived fossils from the Potton
Nodule bed
From Portlandian:
Buccinum
naticoideum Lucina
Portlandica
Neritoma
sinuosa Sowerbya
Cytherea
rugosa Trigonia
incurva
Arca Trigonia
gibbosa
Cardium
dissimile
From Wealden and Purbeck :
Bones, teeth and scales of Iguanadon and
Megalosaurus. Water-worn remains of the former reptiles are remarkably
abundant, and a splendid collection exists in the Woodwardian Museum. For a
description of these see Mr. Seeley's catalogue.
Endogenites erosa is recorded as occuring
at Potton by Mr. Brodie.
Fragments of coniferous and cycadaceous
woods are also found, and Mr. Carruthers has described in the Geol. Mag. for
1867 a pandaceous fruit taken from these beds.
From the Kimmeridge Clay :
Ammonites
biplex Nucula
ornata
Ammonites
mutabilis Pleurotomariae
Ammonites
cordatus Chemnitzia
Cardium
striatulum
Numerous teeth and spines of fishes are also
found; see Ann.and Mag. of Nat.Hist. 3rd Series vol.xviii., and these may
possibly have been derived from the Kimmeridge Clay. Thus we find remains of
Gyrodus Pycnodus, Hybodus, Asteracanthus ornatissimus and Sphaerodus gigas. All
these are stated by Mr. Walker to occur in the clay at Ely.
From the Coralline Oolite :
Montinaltia
Rhynochonella
varians
From the Oxford Clay:
Gryphaea
dilatata
Ammonites
Lamberti
From Neocomian :
Ammonites
Deshayesii Trigonia spinosa
Anclyoceras
gigas Littorinae
Thetis
minor
Miscellaneous derived fossils :
Belemnites Lepidotus
Modiolae Strophodus
magnus
Myacites Acrodus
strophoides
Lima Plesiosaurs
Cyprina Pliosaurus
Pholodomya Dakosaurus
Turreted
univalves
(Teall,J.J. "The Potton and Wicken
Phosphatic Deposits," Sedgwick Prize Essay for 1873, Cambridge 1875
pp.8-10)
WHAT
IS THE ORIGIN OF COPROLITES?
The
Greensand Ridge was a coastal area in Cretaceous times about 90 million years ago
and many of the dinosaurs that lived in the area were experiencing great stress
from the increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. At the time the dinosaurs
were at their most massive during Jurassic times oxygen levels were as high as
35% but extensive volcanic activity as the continents drifted apart released
vast quantities of carbon dioxide which caused big problems for big creatures.
The large dinosaurs' respiratory systems experienced asthma-like problems. They
were exhausted having to conserve enough energy to "dash and dine"
like crocodiles. Many were probably just too tired for sex! Those dinosaurs
that adapted to the changing climatic conditions met their demise in this area
following a major rise in sea level about 96 – 94 million years ago. It is
thought that asteroid impact caused tidal waves which inundated the south of
England with many hundreds of metres of water. The land animals were drowned
and their bloated bodies eventually sank to the seabed and accumulated as a
vast graveyard. Their fossils built up in a huge bed, in places up to two
metres thick, which stretches almost a hundred miles across the Eastern
Counties.
WHAT
WERE THEY USED FOR?
Whilst
many Geology students and professors revelled in the finds, Victorians museum
and drawing rooms had their shelves filled with the better specimens of these
fossils. But furthering academic research was not the main reason why they were
extracted.
Britain's
population had doubled in the first half of the 19th century. Many millions lived
in towns and cities and there was a huge increased in demand for food. This led
agriculturalists to introduce an assortment of innovations. Perhaps one of the
most practical was the use of chemical fertilisers. The "coprolites"
mined from the base of the Upper and Lower Greensand were their major raw
material for the fertiliser business for forty years.
WHERE
WERE THE COPROLITES FOUND?
Following the discovery of the coprolite by
drainage work on the clay lands around Astwick they started to be exploited in
Potton by 1866. The first pit was on Sandy Heath owned by the M.P. Arthur Peel
who lived in Sandy Lodge - the present headquarters of the RSPB. Over the next two decades he made a fortune
out of royalties from having the coprolite raised. Whether Everton farmers were
able to improve their incomes from having the coprolite extracted is not known.
No records of any agreements have come to light. It has been said that there
were mining operations across much of the Heath, along the Horserace (Long Riding)
and along Everton Heath. In which case it was on land belonging to the Astell
family of Woodbury Hall. Large
quantities of fossils can still be found today in the fields along the top of
the ridge. When they were first worked in Everton is uncertain but it is very
likely many local men, women and children got employment in the pits.
According to the 1871 census there were
only two “agricultural labourers” yet forty-nine were described as “
labourers.” They may well have been coprolite labourers but did not describe
themselves as such. The work involved in raising the coprolites was very hard,
much harder than ordinary farm work. The labourers, as they used to do on the
farms, took their children along to assist them in the digging, barrowing,
washing and sorting of the fossils.
CONDITIONS IN THE PITS
Some people were concerned about their
exploitation and poor working conditions.
In 1866 Rev. J. B.
James, rector of Gamlingay, provided fascinating details of these
conditions. He wrote to Hon. E. Portman, the commissioner in charge of the
government's investigations into child labour.
"The coprolite
diggings in our
neighbourhood have occupied very
many of our boys, many of whom
earn at them 8s. and 9s. a week, which is more than the farmers can give them. "
SANDY.
50.
Mr. Coulson. - "Girls of 7 years up to 18 years are employed in the
coprolite works. The work is taken
by the piece; they get a sum per ton for picking over the
fossils. A girl of ten years would earn
7s. a week by day work, but much
more by piece work. The state of
education among them is very low; some can read, hardly any can
write. The parents also are very
uneducated. This and the adjoining district of Polton [sic] is a
gardening tract; children are much
employed in large numbers in peeling onions and such
like work. I have seen gross
cases of immorality
and indecency, even among
the smaller children,
at leisure moments at the coprolite mills when waiting for the carts,
and have heard much bad language, which is readily learnt by the young from
constantly hearing it round them. The foremen do not check them. The sexes should be separated at the mills,
by means of different sheds, or
even by separate mills for boys and girls. In one
instance the foreman keeps a public
house, where the
wages are paid, and
the men and
children are allowed
to have as much drink as they like during the week
on credit, and the money is deducted on
pay night. These children have
no time for learning, except in the evening."
ARLESEY
46a. "There are three sets of coprolite works, three brickyards and a cement
works, which have caused
a great increase in
population, especially in
summer, when many houses are crowded. Coprolite employs a good many men,
many of whom are strangers. Coprolite works employ some boys, leading
horses.
BIGGLESWADE
UNION.
"Coprolite
works and brick fields may be added to
the causes given by Mr. Weale for the
overcrowding and use
of bad cottages in the neighbourhood of Biggleswade."
(Beds. R.O. CRT 160/140 Parliamentary
Papers 1867-8 XVII "1st Report of the
Commissioners on the Employment of Children, Young Persons and others in
Agriculture". pp. 343. 506,518)
Mr. Portman's summary added further details
about the work and showed that
Mr. Peel had attempted to
provide the youngsters with the
rudiments of education.
COPROLITE DIGGINGS.
"131. There is in Cambridgeshire much employment for the young of both
sexes of the agricultural labouring classes at the coprolite works. These works
are increasing in number, the price paid for the right of digging is from
£80. to £100. an
acre, it being
agreed that the land shall be restored to the owner
levelled and in
a state fit
for cultivation. The digging work is done by men and grown lads; boys
are employed in wheeling barrows, and children of both sexes in
sorting the fossils in the mills. Wages are high, boys can earn 8s. and
9s. a week, and a girl of 10 years of
age earns 7s. a week by day work, but more by the piece, the payment for
picking over the fossils being usually
so much per ton... The state of education among these children is very low,
and testimony is given as to the existence of gross immorality and indecency,
no care being taken to separate the sexes at the mills. On enquiring
in the
neighbourhood of Sandy and Potton, and elsewhere, I could not
learn that any steps had been taken
by the inspectors of factories
to bring the provisions of the
Workshop Act to bear
on this industry,
but it is possible that ere this the subject has occupied their attention.
Mr. Peel's school.
132. Peel,
M.P., of Sandy,
has built a
shed conveniently situated for a
certain number of these works, which is used for dinner, when hot coffee, &c. are provided at a
low price, and for evening school. It is
under the superintendence of
Mr. Coulson, who
reads to them
at mealtimes, and gives
religious and secular instruction. I attended an evening meeting of these children, when upwards of
80 of both sexes were present,
who had been
regular attendants at the
school and regularly
employed at the works, and as far as I
could judge from
the single opportunity, I
feel sure that Mr. Peel and his coadjutor have every reason to be satisfied with the
success of their missionary labours
among this otherwise
neglected population."
(Ibid. p.108)
A newspaper article from the Bedford Times of 1878
gives fascinating details about all aspects of the industry.
BEDFORDSHIRE COPROLITE DIGGINGS
Around the quiet and
quaint old town of Potton, there has been carried on for the last ten years an industry that in many parts of the
country is quite unknown. Men have been engaged in digging into the
earth for a product, the use and purpose of which is
scarcely known to one in ten of those engaged in raising it.
In the mist of an October morning, I accompanied some scores of men,
women, boys and girls to Sandy Heath, on the estate of Mr. A. W.
Peel, M. P. where the fossil
pits are situate. The men and boys, mostly
carrying shovels and pickaxes, are
dressed in corduroy,
which, by contact with the sand
in which they work, has become a sandy
colour
LAND IMPROVED
At Deepdale, hillocks of stone, the refuse of
coprolites, are seen
in the fields. The fossils have all been dug here and the pits are now
situate on top of the
hill, which is
of red sandstone formation. The land from which the coprolites are
taken is usually hired by contractors
at prices varying from £100
to £400 per
acre. The coprolites
being taken out and the
earth replaced, the land is left
in a state for cultivation, and instead of being
injured in the
process, is, in many cases,
improved. So much so that where the digging is being carried
on now, crops will be growing
luxuriantly.
The refuse stones are
sold for road-making and realise about a shilling a load, while the
smallest stones, or currants as they are called, are used for gravelling
paths. Many thousands
of loads have
been carted from Deepdale and Sandy Heath during the last few years, and
it is estimated that in the parish of
Potton some 200 acres
of land have been turned over for coprolites, besides a large quantity of land at Sandy
Heath, Everton and on the estate of Sir John Burgoyne at
Sutton. But the fossils on the sand land are of a softer and inferior nature to
those found in clayey deposits. Some
specimens [sic] of the remains of the
Ichthyosaurus and the
Plesiosaurus have been found in the red sandstone formation, while remains of inferior orders of reptiles
and mammalia are abundant.
TWO
FEET THICK
The coprolite
are layers or
beds about 18 in. to 2 ft. in thickness and at a depth of 5 to 10
ft. from the surface. The land
being cultivated for gardening
purposes and the topsoil is carefully removed and placed in heaps. A sort of
gully or trench 8 ft. wide is dug out, and the coprolites are
wheeled in barrows to another portion of the ground where a
cylindrical sieve is fixed
for the purpose
of freeing them
from the sand. This machine, which is worked by horse power, is
a round cylinder of
sheet iron, perforated with
holes of a quarter inch diameter and placed horizontally in a tank of water,
the cylinder being half
submerged. The drum of the cylinder is two ft. in diameter at the larger
end and 1 ft. at the smaller and 10 ft. in length.
The fossils
are put in
at the larger end, and as the drum revolves the smallest stones and the
sand fall through the holes into the water tank, and the larger are carried
along by a screw arrangement, and emptied at the smaller end into
barrows. When these
are filled they are wheeled by
men into the sorting sheds where women are engaged in sorting. These sheds, 28
ft. long by 8 ft. wide, have on each side a bench, separated by partitions
with room for one woman to work.
The fossils
being largely mixed
with sandstones, it
is necessary that they should be removed before they are ready
for market. The fossils
in their mixed state, are emptied on the benches and
sorted, the stones being thrown onto
the floor and the fossils passed through a hole at the
back of the benches into a box outside. They are then wheeled into heaps ready
for sale.
14 FT. DOWN
The sorting, or picking, of the coprolites
is an important part of the process. At the pits upon Sandy Heath, the
coprolites are about 14 ft. from the surface, and the vein is about
2 ft. thick. Instead
of being, as in most pits, in a
loose form, the fossils here resemble a rock of the plum pudding stone, and
are so hard a substance that they cannot be broken by a pickaxe.
The method of
blasting used in the coal
pits has to
be resorted to. A hole is drilled through the bed of coprolites, and a
charge of 2 lb. of pressed gunpowder is exploded by means of a
fuse. This loosens the fossils,
and breaks them, partially, from
the sandstone. They are then sifted and broken again by a hammer and
wheeled to the
washing machine, from which they go to the picking sheds. After the
first process of picking, the refuse is
carried to a heap and burned with slack coal. The fire pulverises the sandstone, and they are sifted, washed
and sorted again, the process being
repeated until every fossil is removed.
GOOD WORKERS
The men
engaged in the pits are as good specimens of English labourers as could be found - none of the lazy
lookers-out for Saturday
night, who care not how little work they do, as long as they get their
wages, but strong and hearty workers who work with a will. The work being all
piecework, none but those who can and
will work would find more than
temporary employment here.
The occupation, though it must
tax the strength and endurance of the men, does not prevent them enjoying their
pipe, and when I told one
of them that I should have thought
the work would have been too severe to permit of smoking, he informed me that
it was
the greatest comfort he had while at work, unless it might be when he
had a “bit for the tooth.” I heard no
complaints as to the lowness of their pay, although they never average more
than 2s.9d. per day; but my reference
to the tobacco brought
forth a strong expression of
feeling with reference to both that article and beer. One of
the number, a most
intelligent man, entered
into a discussion, which lasted some considerable time, without his
once leaving off work. He said
the magistrates were very down on any poor chap who had a
drop too much beer, and some of them thought the men ought not to have tobacco.
“Look here, sir,” said he, “I can’t read nor write, and, after a week’s work
like this, I like to go to the
public house on Saturday night
and hear what’s going on, and if I do get
a drop too much it’s the only comfort a poor man has. I
don’t mean getting a drop too much is the only comfort,
but going into company now and then,
and having a pint of beer with his mates.
Now there’s
Mr. ---- (alluding to a gentleman residing near); he would not like to be at work all day and
go home night after night and sit and watch his wife put the kids to
bed. He invites his mates to dinner,
and they drink their wine, and I should
not wonder if they get tight sometimes, but, if they do, go home in a
carriage, and the bobby don’t see them; but
I can’t invite
my mates to come and see me, for I can’t afford it. If I get tight I
have to walk home, and if the policeman sees me I have to go
to Biggleswade and pay ten bob for it, and I don’t think that fair.
The operation of
sorting the fossils is somewhat interesting and the rapidity with which it is done is marvellous. The stones are always kept wet, while being sorted, and
to keep the hands of the sorters warm, a fire-basket is hung at every
table. As there are twelve of these
baskets in the sorting house, the temperature is always warm.
The girls amuse
themselves at work by singing, and
the whole vocabulary
of melody, from the ‘Old Hundredth’ to ‘Tommy make room for your Uncle,’
is regularly gone through in the course
of a day.
BUILT A SCHOOL
When the
digging of coprolites first
commenced on Mr. A. W. Peel’s land,
with thoughtful consideration for the
welfare of those engaged
in the work, he built a school, and
employed a schoolmaster so that during meal-times such instruction
as the limited time
would permit, should be imparted
to all those who cared to avail
themselves of it.
Hot coffee is also supplied to the work people,
by the person in charge of the room, at 1d. a pint, and there are also
books, papers and periodicals. Since the passing of the
Education Act, children are not employed, and the services of the
schoolmaster have been dispensed
with, but a man is always in attendance. The cost of digging, sorting etc.
ranges from 30s. to 40s. per ton,
and at the pit on Sandy Heath, between 30 and 40 tons are produced
weekly.”
(Bedfordshire Times, May 18th 1962. from an
original article in 1878)
The four consecutive years
of heavy rain at the end of the 1870s made coprolite digging dangerous and
increased costs with additional pumping. The import of cheaper phosphate from
North America caused prices for local coprolites to plummet. Many pits closed
and labourers were laid off. There
were no ”labourers” recorded in
Everton’s 1881 census.
Some of those laid off during this period may
well have found alternative employment in nearby towns or elsewhere but some moved into market
gardening. Analysis of the 1891 census returns indicates there was considerable
out-migration from Everton, Wrestlingworth, Potton and Sutton whilst Sandy
experienced in-migration. Those without employment must have experienced severe
financial difficulties. Various attempts were made to alleviate their
problems. A Relief Committee was set up which provided one temporary solution.
“SANDY - THE
DISTRESS. The Relief Committee have got 35
men on to work
to repair the
Stratford Road, at
fairly remunerative wages.
The Speaker, besides
giving a subscription is finding the material for the works.
William Jeeves is the foreman of the work, and Mr. Edward Barron is the
superintendent and paymaster. Appeals for subscriptions have been well
responded to.”
(Beds. Mercury 15th
January 1887)
The coprolite
pits reopened shortly afterwards. Maybe the landowner, Mr Astell of Woodbury
Hall, allowed some of his fields to be
worked at reduced royalties. Two accidents were recorded in 1889 where the
fossils were being worked further towards Everton. Here they were
found at increased depth and beneath a hard band of ironstone or iron pan which
required blasting.
“POTTON. -
During some blasting operations on Thursday at the Coprolite Works on Sandy
Heath an accident of a very serious nature happened to a young man named Chinn
belonging to this Town, who on looking over the borings to see that the charge
had been placed right, received the full force of the explosion in his face and
chest, and setting his clothes on fire. He was conveyed to Bedford Hospital. It
is feared that his eyesight is completely destroyed and at present but little
hopes are entertained of his recovery.”
(Royston Crow 12th July 1889)
Three
months later a similar accident was reported in Everton. To the east of Sandy
Road, Everton, opposite the drive of chestnut trees, is a shallow depression in
what is locally called the “fossil field” or “Money Loser.” (OS.198504) This was the fossil pit where a
Mr. Jiggle was in charge of the blasting work. As a result of an accident in
the pits he spent the rest of his life helping out in the village shop with a
pension of £0.25 a week. This was less than the daily wage of the earlier
diggers. (Author’s conversations with Wally Smith, Everton and Blanch Hunt,
Sandy, who is Jiggle’s granddaughter.)
“ACCIDENT AT THE
SANDY HEATH COPROLITE WORKS - Another accident of a more dangerous nature
than the one to a man named Chinn, a short time since, took place at the above
works on Saturday last. It appears that a man of the name of Jiggle was engaged
in the process of blasting stones, when instead of using the proper wooden
“rammer,” which was not handy at the time, the man took either a steel crowbar
or a boring instrument to ram in the powder,
&c. The steel striking on a stone of course produced sparks which
exploded the powder, and blew up into the unfortunate man’s face and body,
inflicting fearful injuries. The piece
of iron or steel, whichever it was, was blown into the air, and in decending
[sic] struck Jiggle in the face, cutting it open from the bridge of his nose
downwards, making a horrible gash. He was at once taken to Bedford Infirmary,
where he is progressing as well as can be expected, although it is feared that
his eyesight is destroyed. We hope that
this will be a warning to all those engaged in the process of blasting, not to
use steel or iron instruments, but wooden ones for ramming in the powder, &c., and we think that whoever is in
charge of the works ought to see that this is enforced, and not let the lives
of the workers be endangered by the careless use of steel amongst the flint
powder.”
( Potton Hist. Soc.Beds.Times? October 1889, Robarts
Scrapbook,
In 1891
two Everton women were employed as “coprolite pickers”, 32-year-old Kate Giggle
and 24 year old Kate Roberts. (BCRO. 1891 census) Analysis of the 1901 census returns only revealed one person as involved.
45-year old Amelia Inskip, of Biggleswade Road in Potton was described as a
“coprolite sorter.” However, there were numerous general and agricultural
labourers who may have been engaged in the diggings. Mr. Richardson of Potton
mentioned that his grandfather was the coprolite foreman at that time and lived
in 'The Locomotive' Public House in Deepdale.
For more detailed
information on this unusual industry read ‘The Dinosaurs on Sandy Heath’. It is
out of print but can be obtained from the local libraries.